Free Republic

Top News Story ARE ARABS ANTI-AMERICAN? An Excerpt: By AMIR TAHERI PRESIDENT Bush's "image queen," Karen Hughes, is on a tour of Arab countries, where conventional wisdom claims that anti-Americanism is second nature. Hughes, now in charge of public diplomacy at the State Department, plainly she shares that analysis — why else choose the Arab region for her maiden voyage? But how true is that claim? Are Arabs the most anti-American people on earth? READ MORE A Daily Briefing of Major News Stories on Iran: Iran Press News reported that Hadad Adel, the Director of the Parliament of the...

The United States and its allies must act to stop Iran's nuclear programs -- by force if necessary -- because conventional diplomacy will not work, three senior Israeli lawmakers from across the political spectrum warned yesterday. As a last resort, they said, Israel itself would act unilaterally to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear arms. Iran will not be deterred "by anything short of a threat of force," said Arieh Eldad, a member of Israel's right-wing National Union Party, part of a delegation of Knesset members visiting Washington this week. "They won't be stopped unless they are convinced their programs will...

Top News Story FLIGHT OF CAPITAL IS A WAKE-UP CALL FOR IRAN TO CHANGE ITS POLICIESby Amir TaheriGulf NewsSeptember 28, 2005 Here is a quiz. You have a country whose foreign exchange reserves are at the highest levels in two decades, with prospects of rising prices for its principal export while over $200 million (Dh734 million) pours into its coffers each day.Moreover, the nation's budget deficit, a persistent though occulted feature for the past eight years, has turned into a surplus, freeing the hands of the government to throw money at its more pressing problems. The logical consequence of...

Top News Story Russia in a Hurry to Sell Weapons to Iran — Paper Russia is intensifying efforts to sell weapons to Iran while such sales remain legal amid mounting pressure on the Islamic state over its controversial nuclear program, the daily Kommersant said on Monday. Moscow “has stepped up military-technological cooperation with Tehran,” the business daily said, citing an unidentified source. It said top officials within Russia’s military-industrial complex decided to concentrate on arms sales to Tehran for two reasons. “Firstly, as many weapons as possible must be sold to Iran before an international embargo against this country comes...

Top News Story Iran threatens to cut trade with nuclear critics By Parisa Hafezi TEHRAN, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Iran threatened on Tuesday to use trade to punish countries that have voted to report it to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions, after Tehran failed to convince the world its nuclear programme was peaceful. Iranian officials said they were shocked by India's backing on Saturday for a resolution passed by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog body, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). But they reassured India, which is hoping to sate its voracious appetite for energy through deals with...

Top News Story Iran threatens to halt nuclear checks as it is declared 'non-compliant'By Anton La Guardia, Diplomatic Editor(Filed: 26/09/2005) Iran yesterday threatened to halt spot inspections of its nuclear sites in retaliation for a harshly worded resolution that brought Teheran a step closer to being reported to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the weekend declared Iran to be in "non-compliance" with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty because of a catalogue of violations that has stoked strong suspicions that Iran is seeking to build an atomic bomb.   Defiant: Iran's...

Top News Story More than 4000 of the Iranian National Guard, Al Quds Corps and the Intelligence Ministry are in Iraq • During the past three years, Iran has been the major player in Iraq for several reasons. Everyone is speaking about the Iranian interference in Iraq and the spread of Iranian intelligence agents and the Guard elements intensively in the south, symbolically in the north and secretly in Baghdad. A) According to some documents, in addition to the statements of colonel Ismael, a leader of Al Quds Corps, who fled from Iran and Al Sharq Al Awsat has...

Mullah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani says the US and Israel are raising too much hue and cry trying to exaggerate Iran's peaceful nuclear activities solely for political purposes, irrespective of the grave consequences of their actions regionally and globally. In an interview with the Jeddah-based daily, Okaz, published on Saturday, Rafsanjani said there is a possibility of the referral of Iran's nuclear issue to the UN Security Council though "knowing the serious outcome of such a move would convince western leaders to act more prudently to avoid such a development". "The US and the 'Zionist regime' have been trying to exaggerate...

Top News Story Iran to Launch Spy Satellite By the End of September By the end of September a Russian Cosmos 3 missile will be launched from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome 800 km north of Moscow, carrying two Iranian satellites into orbit. Although the satellites are claimed to be for meteorological and experimental purposes, experts believe that one of them will possess surveillance capabilities allowing it to observe American and Israeli military facilities throughout the Middle East. More importantly, experts believe that the Iranian space program serves as a cover for developing more advanced long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear...

Top News Story EU military attaches walked out in protest at a parade in Tehran Thursday after ballistic missiles were rolled past carrying vitriolic anti-US and Israeli slogans, diplomats told AFP. "There was a common position among the European Union members that, if the military parade included any slogans that attacked our allies, we would leave," said a diplomat."The military attaches from the embassies of France, Italy, Greece and Poland were present at the parade, and when they saw the slogans they promptly left," said another diplomat.At the parade, Iran showed off six of its Shahab-3 medium-range ballistic missiles...

Top News Story Rooz Online Iran Taken on a War Path Arash Motamed With the performance of Iran’s UN delegation in New York, Iranian political circles inside and outside the country now have more reason for concern. Ahmadinejad spoke of combat at the UN and shut the door to “politics” while Larijani has appointed hardliners as negotiators over the nuclear issue. Both issues are interpreted in Iranian political analysts to mean one thing: Ahmadinejad and Larijani are taking the country towards war. Observers note that concerns over the policies of the Mesbah Yazdi – Ahmadinejad – Larijani team were...

Top News Story Refer at own peril, says Iran Iran warned the West on Tuesday it would start uranium enrichment and review its membership of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if sent to the UN Security Council. Larijani also said the world’s fourth biggest oil producer would link its stance on foreign countries’ access to its energy resources to whether they stood with Iran on its nuclear plans. ‘‘Some countries have extensive economic relations with Iran, especially in the oil sector, but feel no responsibility to defend the rights of an oppressed nation. The Supreme National Security Council is determined...

Top News Story Weekly Standard THE FAILURE OF CONTAINMENTU.S.-European Iran policy reaches a dead end. by Amir TaheriWeekly StandardSeptember 26, 2005 THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is scheduled this week to decide whether to refer Iran to the United Nations' Security Council for alleged violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Iran is making a last-minute effort to stall the decision, but it is already clear that the European strategy--carried out by Britain, France, and Germany--for dealing with Iran's clandestine quest for nuclear weapons has failed. The trio of E.U. nations had based their...

Top News Story Guardian NEW YORK (AP) - The United States and European nations whose diplomatic advances were rebuffed by Iran worked Sunday to present a case against the Tehran regime to the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency meeting this week. The Bush administration's lead diplomat on Iran, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, huddled with representatives of Germany, France and Britain a day after Iran's new hardline president used a United Nations speech to proclaim his country's ``inalienable right'' to produce nuclear fuel. In a fiery speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defiantly rejected the...

Top News Story Iran Readying for Conflict With USAmir Taheri   Incredible though it may sound there are signs that Tehran may be preparing for a military confrontation with the United States, and has convinced itself that it could win.The first sign came last June with the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president of the Islamic Republic, an event that completed the conquest of all levers of power by the most radical elements of the establishment. Since then the revolutionary factions have conducted a little publicized purge of the military, the security, the civil service, and state-owned corporations and...

Top News Story IRIB CNN to Interview Iranian President Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting:President Ahmadinejad to appear before CNN cameras for an exclusive interview on Saturday. The Cable News Network's (CNN) celebrated Christian Amanpour will make an exclusive interview on Saturday at 2230 gmt with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, currently in the United States for UN annual meeting in New York. Amanpour is expected to raise Iran's nuclear issue during her talks with the president, but she will also pose questions on critical international issues. READ MORE CNN's Amanpour had several interviews with high and middle ranking Iranian officials, including...

Top News Story U.S. Briefing on Iran Alleges Pattern of Concealment, Deception An Excerpt: Jacqueline Shire, ABC News: Hat tip to Web Gardian In a presentation for International Atomic Energy Agency officials and the 35 countries on its governing board, U.S. Energy Department officials detail evidence claiming to show that Iran remains committed to developing a nuclear weapon and is deceiving the international community, ABC News has learned. ABC News has obtained a copy of the 43-slide PowerPoint computer presentation, which was delivered to IAEA Board members in the run-up to its meeting Monday, when Iran's nuclear program will...

Top News Story Iran offers nuclear know-how to Islamic states 15 Sep 2005 11:36:22 GMT Source: Reuters (Adds British reaction, background) By Paul Hughes TEHRAN, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Iran is ready to share its nuclear technology, considered to be a front for bomb-making by Washington, with other Islamic countries, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying on Thursday. The comments were likely to heighten Western concerns about Tehran's nuclear programme just ahead of a key meeting of the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog this month which could decide to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for punitive action. "The...

Top News Story The Washington Times Unwelcome mat An Excerpt: Kenneth R. Timmerman, The Washington Times: Tomorrow, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly should order his men to escort the new hard-line president of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Kennedy International Airport, the minute he finishes speaking to the U.N. General Assembly at 3:10 p.m. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who took office in August after disputed elections, is not just any head of state. He has a terrorist pedigree that should make him an unwelcome guest in any civilized country, if having a terrorist "watch list" serves any purpose. But...

Top News Story Daneshjoo Iranian secularist opposition groups are gathering, in New York, to protest against the presence of the Islamic regime's President at the United Nations. These groups are forming the "Iran UN Protest 2005" (IUNP2005) Coalition which includes the National-Secular Party, Iran Society, Marzeporgohar Party, Alliance of Iranians (TX), National Iranian Congress, Social-Democrats, Iranian Council, Free-Thinkers, Pan-Iranist, Iran of Tomorrow and the SMCCDI as the main organizer of the action. Activists and members of IUNP2005 are flying or driving from several North American and European cities, such as, Dallas, Los Angeles, Paris and Toronto in order to...